Noi’s Local Market
While we were in Kanchanaburi, the owner of our guesthouse, Noi, turned out to be a rare find. She routinely teaches her guests how to cook Thai dishes, and takes them to a local market to sample all kinds of authentic Thai food, for 10 or even 5 baht a piece. She buzzed us through, bringing up handful after handful of delicious and ridiculously cheap sweets, snacks and grilled meats and vegeatables. I wish I could list everything I tried, but it was one, succulent blur of spice and zest. Everything was good.
She also showed us the countryside, golden with ripening rice fields (something I had never seen before) and humming with the sound of buffalo and cattle grazing. I always forget how big those animals are in real life, and I quickly understood why the elderly Thai man we met carries a slingshot when he’s around the buffalo.
Noi also told us about her concerns for the future, such as younger Thais preferring Western fast foods to traditional Thai veggies and spicy meats, the over-abundance of plastic bags being used in retail, and disorganized recycling system and how many rural Thais are still ignorant about proper recycling and trash disposal methods. She really was a forward-thinker, and we were all grateful for her honest input and guidance through the market!
Notes from Abroad 